Category: Who’s In

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (CSO) and Cincinnati Pops have appointed SAMUEL LEE and DANIEL WILEY as assistant conductors for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, and May Festival, beginning with the 2022-23 season. They succeed François López-Ferrer and Wilbur Lin, whose tenures conclude in August.

Samuel Lee is a first-prize winner of the BMI International Conducting Competition in Bucharest and the International Conducting Competition in Taipei. Guest conducting engagements include the Hamburg Camerata at the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg and Leipziger Symphoniker at the Gewandhaus, as well as with Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Hamburg Symphony Orchestra, Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestra, Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra, Frankfurt State Orchestra, Brandenburg Symphony Orchestra, Hamburg Camerata, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Bucharest Symphony Orchestra, Arad Philharmonic Orchestra, Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, and Korean Symphony Orchestra. Lee was a conducting fellow with the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music in 2021 and 2022, and has been the chief conductor of the C.P.E. Bach Musikgymnasium Orchestra Berlin since 2016. As a violist, Lee has performed internationally, and from 2009 until 2017 he was the violist of Novus String Quartet. Lee is an alumnus of Hochschule für Musik “Hanns Eisler” Berlin, where he studied viola and orchestral conducting.

Daniel Wiley’s conducting posts include assistant conductor of the Jacksonville Symphony, music director of the Jacksonville Symphony Youth Orchestras, associate conductor of the Windsor (Ontario) Symphony Orchestra, music director of the Windsor Symphony Youth Orchestras, music director of the Windsor Symphony Community Orchestra, education conductor for London Symphonia, and assistant conductor for the Meridian Symphony Orchestra. Guest engagements include the Equilibrium Ensemble, Boise Philharmonic, Abilene Philharmonic, London (Ontario) Symphonia, Windsor Abridged Opera, University of Windsor’s Wind Ensemble, and the University of North Florida’s opera department. During the pandemic, Wiley was instrumental in expanding the Windsor Symphony’s educational footprint by creating a digital concert series for schools. For the Composing in the Wilderness program, part of the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival in Fairbanks, Alaska, Wiley conducted numerous premieres in Denali National Park.

The Cleveland Women’s Orchestra has appointed JUNGHO KIM as music director. He succeeds the orchestra’s music director of 28 years, Robert Cronquist, who died in 2018. John Thomas Dodson served as principal conductor and artistic advisor for the interim period between Cronquist’s death and Kim’s appointment. Kim has conducted orchestras across North America, Asia, and Europe, including the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra in NY, National Arts Centre Orchestra in Canada, Omaha Symphony Orchestra in Nebraska, Dohnanyi Orchestra Budafok and Savaria Symphony Orchestra in Hungary, as well as North Czech Philharmonic in the Czech Republic. In 2004, he was the assistant conductor of the Lucca Opera Festival in Italy. While pursuing a doctoral degree in orchestral conducting at the Eastman School of Music, he served as assistant conductor of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. Kim is currently director of orchestra and assistant professor at the Hugh A. Glauser School of Music at Kent State University.

TRACY BARRON has joined Indiana’s Carmel Symphony Orchestra as director of development. A CSO board member from 2002 to 2006, Barron has over 30 years of experience in the non-profit sector, with posts as executive director for the Hussey-Mayfield Memorial Public Library Foundation, the Zionsville Chamber of Commerce, and the Zionsville Education Foundation. Barron is an alumna of Carmel High School and holds an undergraduate degree is in arts administration. The Carmel Symphony Orchestra, founded in 1975, is a professional orchestra that is among the resident companies of the Palladium at Carmel’s Center for the Performing Arts.

California’s Santa Barbara Symphony has named DANIEL GEE as music director of the Santa Barbara Youth Symphony for the 2022-23 season. Gee is an assistant professor of music at Westmont College, where he conducts the College Choir and Chamber Singers. The Santa Barbara Symphony’s music education programs include three youth ensembles for students in grades 3 through 12, from beginner to advanced: Camerata Ensemble, Philharmonia Orchestra, and the Santa Barbara Youth Symphony. Gee has served as assistant conductor for the Long Beach Symphony and associate conductor of Orange County’s Choral Arts Initiative, with conducting experience that includes professional ensembles, church and community groups, and educational settings. Gee received his doctor of musical arts degree from the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music. His work abroad has included teaching and conducting masterclasses at the 2018 Simpósio de Música in São Paulo, Brazil, and performing with the USC Chamber Singers in the Baltics and Poland. He began his music studies studying the cello in his public school music program in Temple City, CA.